Android 13: Documentation sets out rules for manufacturers about managing apps

Since before the official release of Android 13 for devices earlier this week, we already knew – thanks to Google’s own event – that the new version of the little robot would not be filled with great visual novelties or features, but focused on small changes in privacy and security.

As part of these changes, the Mountain View company appears to be looking to put “order in the house”, setting some new rules for manufacturers who ship Android on their devices.

The Android Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) of the new system version requires manufacturers to provide public documentation of how their proprietary restrictions are applied to third-party apps.

These restrictions are usually the ones applied by companies such as Samsung, Motorola, realme and several other OEMs to applications, defining how these apps must behave in the system in order to comply with the requirements of the changes established by each brand.

These requirements may have been established on the grounds of prolonging the autonomy of devices, for example, but despite good intentions, they can harm developers and users, disrupting the functioning of apps, delaying notifications or terminating a background process earlier than expected.

With this, the Android 13 CDD requires manufacturers to attach a document with their proprietary restrictions to the system’s development kit and make it clear what the trigger conditions for the restrictions are and how an app can be exempt from such limitations.

Thus, developers will be able to better unify the functioning of their applications among the various Android modifications; and this “novelty” – which had already been commented on at the Google event this year – should positively add to the recent updates given to JobScheduler (something like “task scheduler” in free translation) in Android 13.